Hunters
by DragonlordRynn
Summary: Agent Akai Shuichi is assigned with a new mission. A mission that leads him a little bit away from Tokyo. And out of the Solar System... Read and Enjoy!
1. The Beginning

**Author's Note**

Another Crossover we thought of. Pretty much the result of too much Detective Conan and too much Aliens vs Predator 2 (the Computer Game).

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**

We own nothing but this fic.

**Warnings**

Contains violence and grammar mistakes. Enjoy anyways.

Please Read and Review!

* * *

The large grandfather clock in the living room struck 11 PM. It was a cozy summer night in Tokyo. The FBI Agent Akai Shuichi resided on the comfortable couch, half-sitting and half-slouching, and stitched up a grazing shot on his shoulder.

He grinned a little and murmured: "Soon I will have you, my beloved nemesis."

Right in that moment someone rang at the front door. Shuichi looked up and called out to his sister: "Could you please take a look, sis?"

"Will do!" answered his little sister. While she was gone, Shuu slouched further into the couch. He lived together with his sister in the currently abandoned house of the Kudo family. Shuichi himself was FBI Agent and hunted the most dangerous criminal organisation on this side of the Pacific Ocean: The Black Organisation. And his 'beloved nemesis' was one of the leading heads of that organisation. A man everyone just called 'Gin'.

Akai was torn from his reverie when Sera came back. "Shuu-nii" she said, "James-san is here."

Shuu arched an eyebrow. James Black was also an FBI Agent. He was his boss, even. "What does he want now?"

"I don't know. But he said it was something important" Sera replied shrugging.

"Well. Let's see what he wants."

Shuu rose from the couch and went into the foyer where James was waiting for him. The younger Agent stopped upon discovering a second man. That one was between 40 and 50, wore a very expensive suit and looked like a business man.

"Good evening" Shuichi greeted, "Isn't it a little late for a visit?"

"Agent Akai" James greeted in a formal way, "This is about your assignment in Tokyo."  
Oh. Akai shifted his weight. "Okay?"

James sighed and continued: "You are too deep in this, Akai" Shuu stared at him with utter disbelieve. This would not bode well. "I have to withdraw you from this mission. Agent Booth will take your position… you know Booth, don't you?"

"Seeley? He's an old friend" Akai answered slowly. "But why do you need to withdraw me? I've almost got them!"

"That is just the problem!" James retorted harshly, "Akai, you are too deep in this whole mess. Two high-ranking officials of the Black Organisation want you dead; you need to get off this for a while."

"But I already did!" Akai protested.

"To play possum and continue working on the case in secret is not what I'm talking about!" Black said, "I need you to work on another case for a while. You are the best for that one."

Akai sighed and yielded. "Okay, what's that about?"

James smiled satisfied. "This is Mr. Weyland. He'll explain everything else."

"The CO of Weyland-Yutani? Why are we dealing with civilians?"

"Mr. Weyland can explain that to you… please Mr. Weyland. He's all yours."

The businessman cleared his throat and turned to the Agent. "There are reports of strange occurrences from one of our outposts, and they need clearing."

"This is why you want to send me?"

"We wish to scotch all doubts about the correctness of this investigation. This is why we can't send any of our investigation teams."

"So nobody can accuse you of to have something swept under the rug, right?"

"Exactly. You are supposed to meet up with a team of Marines and travel with them to our outpost, take a look around and report back."

"And why do I need a team of Marines?"

"Well…" Mr. Weyland hummed and hawed a bit, "The outpost is a little… out of town, so to speak. I reckon it's the only town in the whole area."

Akai threw his arms up. "Boondocks! Super!" He looked over to his sister and asked: "How long will this mission take?"

"A year. Perhaps two."

"A YEAR?!"

"You can't do that!" Masumi called out in distress, "I've just got my brother back!"

"I'm sorry, Sera" James said apologetic, "But it has to be."

"Are there no other Agents?"

"None of them is suitable for this kind of mission. I'm sorry, Shuichi."  
Akai gulped once, twice, and dropped his head. "All right. I'll do it. When do we start?"

"The launch is in two hours."

"WHAT?!"

"I'd suggest you'll prepare quickly."

-o0o-

One and a half hours later Akai was led into a large company complex outside of Tokyo. He carried a travelling bag with his most important stuff and felt terrible. Sera had almost bawled her eyes out when he had to leave her with Jodie. He had to promise his little sister, that he would return for sure.

Now he met in a bland furnished hall a group of heavily armed people.

"Agent Shuichi Akai, I suppose?" asked an old grey-haired man, "I'm Major McCain, the chief of this lot."

"Pleased to meet" Akai replied and shook the offered hand. "I don't assume you know the facts about this mission? Nobody told me anything."

"Did they tell you too it's going to be a little 'out of town'?" a big beefy man with buzz cut asked. He took on to Shuu immediately. "Duke Morrison", he introduced himself, "My buddies call me the 'Bullet Stopper'."

"Pleased to meet you" Akai replied, "But I'm really tired. What's this about?"

"Now" McCain said and called the rest over, "Our mission won't take place 'round the corner... but see for yourself."

Profoundly confused Akai followed the Marines. He was almost as tall as the other men – extremely tall for a Japanese man. But compared to them he was only a bean pole.

"What is this about?" Akai asked again, more on edge this time, "It's past midnight, I'm tired to the bone and…"

His words died in his throat when they entered the hangar. There stood a… _something_ he had never seen before. A plane perhaps?"

"That's a Dropship" Johnson, the red-haired pilot, explained to him, "This baby will bring us to the spaceship 'Verloc' that's orbiting the planet."

"Spaceship?!" Akai cried out, "Are we flying to the Mars?!"

"No, that would be nonsense" Duke laughed.

"Good. Because I heard stories about space stations of Weyland-Yutani and so…"

"We're flying to LV-1201!"

"…" Akai stared gaping at Duke. He needed a lot of time before his brain computed the situation and he could ask: "Excuse me?!"

"Your first trip to an exoplanet? Well, then brace yourself. It's going to be a trip you'll never forget!"

"We… are flying to space to look on some extraterrestrial planet after some super-secret, officially not existing space research station?"

"Wow. They did not lie. You are smart!" laughed a big Afro-American named Jones, "That's what we're going to do!"

"…Okay, where are the cameras? That's a bad joke, isn't it?" Akai revolted.

McCain seized control over the conversation. "No joke, Agent Akai. We are going to do just that. Now go into the Dropship. We're going to be too late."

Akai could still not believe it. It had to be a really bad nightmare or something. He shouldn't have nibbled so much of the expired pain killers!

But it was no nightmare and soon the Dropship flew in the cover of darkness of this starry night high above Japan. Akai looked out of the small porthole to the rapidly smaller becoming city underneath them and sighed. How was he supposed to explain this to his friends?

Shuu leaned back and closed his eyes, waiting for the things coming towards him. This could become something, he thought.

-oo0oo-

Unseen the attacker sneaked closer. To invade the basis of the Oomans was almost too easy for this experienced hunter.

But he wasn't here to hunt, oh no.

This hunter came here to free his clan mates, who had been taken captured without honour by those Oomans.

He crouched his massive form more into the shadows. The Oomans could still see him, even despite his cloaking field. However, this was only because of the pale, fake Oomans with their firearms. The hunter drew a long rifle-like weapon from its holster on his left leg and took aim at the pale Oomans.

Only seconds after he pulled the trigger a small harpoon shot from the weapon and gouged into the head of the humanoid machine. The impact was strong enough to tear off the head of the machine and pinned it against the wall behind it.

The hunter purred satisfied and got up. His gaze fell onto an open door. Didn't this look inviting?

Carefully he crept closer. His huge body didn't hinder him in any way. The hunter looked around a last time before he leapt the whole fifteen feet up to the door as if it was nothing. The room before him was white and didn't seem dangerous.

However, as soon as he had crossed the threshold, the massive doors slammed shut. The hunter roared out in anger and smashed the thick glass with a single blow from the long blades poking from his bracers.

He had been lured into a trap! Damn Oomans!

A gun torrent lowered at once from the ceiling and started to shoot energy projectiles. He howled again when his strength was suddenly draining. With a last, enraged growling he went to the floor and everything became black.

The last thing he saw were boots from some Oomans nearing his position.

Then he lost consciousness.


	2. First Problems

The first days blended into a blur. Only when Shuu set foot onto the 'Verloc' he realised, that he was on the best way to a distant alien planet. The FBI Agent would do something, which was actually not possible yet.

Agent Shuichi Akai… first FBI Agent on LV-1201, he thought. Only he did not know whether he was supposed to be excited or depressed.

The days fused to weeks and those to months. And before he could even take notice, he had already been on his way for half a year with his new team. They took him in without bias, and he took them as well. It was necessary, because LV-1201 was supposed to be extremely dangerous and they had to trust each other with their lives.

Because of Akai's coolness and his level-headedness they even gave him his own nickname: Frosty. And Akai learned how to behave during a battle of man against alien.

Just as fast did he understand how to operate the Exo-Suits. Those were machines in which a man operated the whole thing, whereupon the pilot was offered more strength and endurance through the machine. Akai had taken a special shine on the battle suit 'Alice', and he wondered, whether he would be able to use her against Gin and his men.

"Hey Frosty!" Duke called over to him, "Are you dreaming again?"

"Only a little" Akai responded.

"Hurry up Frosty, we don't have all day."

Shuu grinned when he carried a massive box into the awaiting Dropship. He operated a Working Exo-Suit, and the thing looked like a cross between a Transformer and a fork lift. With it he could lift thousands of pounds without any trouble at all.

Weyland-Yutani had awesome toys!

"I even prepared your gear" Duke said then, "Wasn't that nice of me?"

"Thanks man" Akai answered grinning, "I'll think of it next time I have to pull your ass out of a fire."

"Duke, Akai, stop flirting" a new voice said. Sergeant Hall – a good-looking Afro-American came over to them and scolded them: "We don't have all time. So get back to work" She turned to go back when she called out: "Commander on deck!"  
McCain came over. "Listen up guys, our mission begins e.t.a. six hours. Duke, what are we looking at?"

"A suicide mission" the Latino said, "Hell, we're still short eight soldiers and one Combat Sync after the last drop."

The pilot Johnson joined them as well. "Can't we just execute an air strike?" she asked.

"Negative" McCain waved aside, "The Higher-ups want the station intact, survivors or not. Our orders are to roll in, put out fires and dig in to wait for the sixth. That means no air strikes and no Alice. Sorry, Akai" He gestured towards the FBI Agent and added: "And Frosty needs to finish his investigation."

Soon the rest of the team joined them. McCain addressed his men and said: "Okay, listen up. I'll divide you in two teams: White and Red. The Red Team consists of Akai, Duke, Shugi, Blackwell, Jones and me; Hall leads Team White with Decker, Carter, Mulder, Quait and Louis. Am I clear?"

"Aye!" all called out.

Soon they flew with two Dropships towards LV-1201.

-o0o-

The flight to LV-1201 was more comfortable than the landing. As soon as the Dropships entered the atmosphere of the planet, they got into the worst storm Akai had ever experienced. Gale-force winds tore at the machines, their pilots were put in strain.

"This is going to be a wild ride" Johnson's voice said over the comlink.

Just in that moment the ships were captured by a strong gust. Johnson was cursing something, but Akai was too occupied to keep from smashing somewhere too care. Instead a dull smash echoed through the Dropship, and it groaned like a wounded animal. Immediately afterwards it shook violently, throwing its interior around. None of the soldiers managed to stay on his (or her) respective place.

"Shit!" Johnson cursed again, "We're going down. Hold on to something!"

The FBI Agent felt as if on a roller coaster, only without belts to buckle him down. After seemingly endless minutes the Dropship finally touched down on the rocky ground of the planet a little too harshly.

"Shit!" Shuu heard Duke swear, "Whose leg is that on my throat?"

"Sorry, I think that's mine" Jones muttered.

"Stop pawing my ass!" Akai hissed.

"Sorry, I didn't want to, honestly" Duke excused himself, "I wanted to paw Shugi.

The Asian kicked after the Latino, but only hit Jones.

McCain ordered them to 'get off my fucking back!' and the pile of tangled limbs started to dissolve.

Somehow they had managed to and stood now groaning on the surface of LV-1201. The sky was grey and roaring, and night approached. Akai watched awestruck the moon rising behind the swirling clouds, and shortly behind the second.

Their immediate surrounding was not as nice, though. They had crashed into a canyon. There was only dirt and dust and rocks around them, and some pretty interesting looking patches of stubborn grass. And a man-built entrance in the distance.

"Johnson, where the hell did you learn to fly?" McCain growled and tore Akai from his reverie.

"Flight School, Sir!" she replied, "The same place that taught me not to fly blind in hurricane winds!"

Jones distracted the subject. "Can we still fly?"  
The pilot shook her head. "I doubt it. Our stabilisator's jammed and the antenna's fried. We can't contact the White Team. Stiles and me can repair the damage a bit, but it'll take a while" She took a look around. "And I need some wind sheer data and a stable landing beacon to land anywhere safely."  
McCain nodded. Swiftly he divided his team. At last he turned to Akai: "Agent Akai. You, Blackwell and Shugi go to that complex over there and try to get a landing beacon working, understood?"

-o0o-

Akai opened the door using a very handy hacking device. The mechanical door opened only slowly and screaming, but enough for the slim agent to slip through. However, as soon as he had crossed the threshold when he heard a hissing sound and a roared warning from Blackwell, and could just dive for cover. Something behind him exploded and tore down parts of the ceiling and wall, jamming the door shut. Dirt and dust whirled around the agent when he fought himself coughing back to his feet.

"Just great!" Akai growled, "My first trip to an Exo-Planet and of course I get into such shit."

"Shuu! Shit, Frosty! Say something!" his radio screamed.

He grabbed it to answer, but found it cracked. He could hear what the others said, but could not answer himself. Akai cursed under his breath.

"What happened?" asked Major McCain's voice.

"There was an explosion" Blackwell answered shaken, "I think we lost Akai."

"Negative" Duke interrupted, "I can still read normal live sings – a bit agitated, perhaps."

"Agent Akai" McCain said, "If you can hear me, try to get some wind sheer data. We'll meet back up later."  
Akai sighed and turned away from the pile of rubble. Uncertainly he looked down the hallway and tried to school his breathing. In all these years he had never been in a comparable situation, and the unfamiliarity made it all worse.

The light was flickering since the lamps were damaged, and in the moments when there was light, Akai wished there wasn't. The hallway was completely trashed; hot steam welled out everywhere from the destroyed pipes. Almost all doors were either buried beneath rubble or torn open, and Akai had the uneasy notion that those brown-red smears everywhere on the ceiling and walls were no oil.

Shuu gulped once, twice, grabbed his gun in one and his flashlight in his other hand and started to move. He had a mission: get wind sheer data and activate a landing beacon. Everything else was only secondary.

Slowly he moved through the maze of hallways and rooms, wincing when something happened. But there was nothing, only destroyed machines, stained walls and… cat-sized bugs. They were especially annoying, since the loud beating of their wings were a true pain in his neck.

Also his motion tracker reacted promptly at everything that moved, may it be a moving door, a swinging wire or even these terrible bugs.

Akai cursed his paranoia.

But then he discovered movement in front of him. Another soldier! Nobody from his team, but rather an employee of Weyland-Yutani; but it was another living soul!

"Hey!" Akai called out, "Hey you!"

But the man was not reacting towards him. Driven by pure naked terror he ran along the hallway, stopped, whirled around, shot at something and continued running. Suddenly he was grappled by something and dragged screaming towards the ceiling. Akai paled and sprinted down the way to help the other, but he was too late.

The panicked screams of the soldier came suddenly to a dead stop with a nauseating snapping and tearing sound. Gallons of blood splashed onto the ground in front of him and Akai stopped dead in his tracks. Then he heard something else.

There was a roaring and growling, probably from some kind of animal he had never heard before. Three red laser dots swept over the floor before something heavy moved away from him in the level above him.

The agent was rooted to the spot for several minutes, and could not tear his gaze from the blood pool on the ground, but then he continued forward on shaking legs.

He was now in a former control room, but all computers had been destroyed. Sparks sprang forth from their empty hulls, and Akai wished for a larger gun.

Luckily he discovered a shot gun nearby and had to smile a little. It was his favourite weapon after all. So he went over to pick it up.

But when he knelt down to reach for it, he noted some blood dripping onto the ground before him. The shine of his flashlight revealed another puddle of blood in the corner before him.

Slowly and insecure he lifted his flashlight.

But when he discovered the source of the blood he screamed out and whirled backwards, landing hard on his behind, the light still on the terrible view in front of him.

No FBI training of the world could have prepared him for this.


	3. First Contact

Sera Masumi stared unhappily into the brightly lit shop windows. Christmas was around the corner, but she didn't feel like celebrating.

Her beloved big brother was gone for over half a year now, and she hadn't heard anything about his whereabouts at all. Again.

"Sera, come!" Ran called out, "Look at that."

"Mhmm…"

"What's the matter?" Ran asked, now worried. But Sera did not look her into the eye and continued staring darkly at nothing. Ran understood. She put her arm around the other girl and said: "Your brother is strong. He'll come back. You'll see. He's going to be back sooner than you think."

"Thanks, Ran" Masumi sighed, "I know that, too, but… I'm still worried."

"Understandable. He is your brother after all" the brunette replied comforting, "But I mean what I said before… ah, there's Conan with Agent Booth."

The tall, dark-haired FBI agent joined the girls. "Are you worried about Shuu again?" he asked.

"Yeah. I haven't seen nor heard him for half a year."

Booth smiled a little sheepish. "I haven't seen my wife and daughter for half a year either. But at least I can Skype them every evening."

"And I can't."

"Listen, Sera. When I learnt one thing about your brother; than it's that he is a stubborn ass. When he gets something into his head he'll stick to that. He promised you to be back, he will be back."

Sera sniffed and hugged Booth: "Thanks, Seeley."

"You are always welcome. And hey, how about I treat you some Sushi?"

"Sounds good."

"Well, then come along."

-oo0oo-

Meanwhile Akai had somehow managed to get a hold onto himself again. "Okay, Akai" he said to himself and took a deep breath, "You hunt serial killers, you play mind games with one of the most dangerous criminals and you have seen hundreds of bodies. This won't scare you!"

He pulled himself together and got up – with shaking legs. Because this view was just too damn macabre to be ignored.

In the corner before him hung three male corpses. They had been hung up by their ankles, were skinned and gutted - their intestines lay in a messy pile behind them. Blood dripped down and their dead eyes stared at nothing.

Akai gulped again to keep his meagre breakfast down, turned away and ran into another hallway. "Damn" he growled, "As if they were hunted game."

However, Akai felt as if something hunted him. He didn't know what, though. So he grabbed his gun harder and invoked onto his mission. But soon there was another problem.

"…Shit" he thought. The hallway in front of him had caved in. Akai looked a little helplessly around and discovered an air vent. "It's Mission Impossible then" he told to himself, opened the bolting and slipped into the narrow pipe.

His steps echoed ominous in his ears, and he stopped from time to time because he thought something followed him. But he was alone. Only the damaged radio crackled and creaked.

"Please tell me it's a boot" came Duke's voice over the com-link.

Akai jumped out of the air vent and found himself in a locker room. He looked around quickly, opened all lockers and searched them for usable stuff. He found munitions for his guns. A battle knife. And a body armor. Equipped like this he felt saver and continued further.

"Hey, it's a boot!" Duke said again and Akai had to smile a little.

After he climbed another ladder he found another door. When it was open the harsh wind blew into his face. Akai was outside again, on the other side of the canyon.

He took his binoculars and spied. On the other side of the plain he discovered another man-made complex, complete with a Dropship landing pad and weather instruments! Overjoyed he began to run, but stopped right away.

In front of him lay a yawning abyss, a chasm. A bridge led over it. And on the bridge… there were two other soldiers! Again nobody from his group, but people nonetheless! Akai started towards them.

And just like the last time he couldn't reach them. He heard the strange growling again and a blue ball-lightning raced towards them. It must've been some kind of energy weapon, because it hit the bridge, tore the men apart and threw them into the abyss.

And that was where Shuu had to go to.

He looked around panicked. And he discovered something.

On a rock needle stood another person, a very brawly and large one. However it disappeared before his very eyes!

Akai swallowed again, secured his weapons and started to run. The other discovered him, but Shuu was faster. He managed to clear the bridge before the attacker blew it up. An enraged roar met his ears when the agent jumped behind a pile of rubble. He waited for a few moments and continued to run.

On his way he saw a jeep driving towards his position. However, before he could attract it another ball-lightning hit it, blew it up and hurtled it narrowly over his head.

"Damn it!" Akai cursed, "Why does that shit keep happening to me?!"  
He ran further. Luckily the something seemed to have lost its interest and he reached the complex without more incidents.

Once the heavy door closed behind Akai, he slid to the ground and took a very deep breath. He needed a break, because the adrenaline was coursing too strongly through his system.

While he did that he wondered what was going on and why he agreed to this accursed mission at all!

-o0o-

Akai rose again. Slowly he made his way through the complex, and soon he found himself on the landing pad. It was still silent, and this was what made everything eerie. Only dust was whirled up by his boots.

Shuu walked over the landing place and discovered a door that said 'Weather Station', but it was jammed shut. Without energy it wouldn't open anyways. The agent continued until he found a ladder leading down into the generator rooms. Akai climbed down after having thrown a magnesium flare down to light the darkness.

Down there his heart nearly jumped out of his chest more than once, but that was only because of these terrible bugs that nested within the halls.

At the end of the hallway he found the generators. He sent a devout prayer to all gods before he threw the lever.

"Yeah! Finally something works as it should!" Shuu called out overjoyed. The generators ran, and even though something exploded the light remained on.

"Hey! The energy's back in the complex!" he heard the voices of his team over the radio.

"That must've been Akai" McCain said, "Thank god… I feared he wouldn't make it. Hey, agent Akai, if you can hear me, please transfer the wind sheer data and activate the landing beacon. And… good work, son."

Akai grinned over both cheeks and made his way out of the generator room. Now where there was energy in the complex everything would go easier. He stopped shortly because he thought he had heard something, but nothing happened, and he continued on his way.

The weather station was located quickly, and the wind sheer data was transferred and the landing beacon activated just as swift. Only minutes later the Dropship appeared in the grey sky and landed.

As soon as the hatch was open his team ran out and threw themselves at the FBI agent.

"Frosty, you crazy dog!" Duke called out in joy.

"Man, I thought we'd had seen the last of your cute ass!" Jones said and Akai elbowed him lightly into the ribs.

"Good work, agent" McCain said once Akai was free of the pile of muscles.

"Thanks, Sir. I only did what I was told to."

"And that with bravery… here, take a new radio."

"Thanks, Sir."

The Major patted his shoulder and said: "Agent, I'm afraid we'll need your help once again. Here, in this part of the complex, you have restored the energy, but the rest is still out. I want you to restore the energy so we can activate the defense systems. Who knows what crawls around here."

Akai nodded: "Will do, Sir."

"Good luck" Duke said. "Here, take my night sight."

"Thanks, man."

"The rest of you defends the Dropship until Johnson and Stiles have finished the repairs!"

"Aye, Sir!"

And Akai walked through another door.

-o0o-

After entering this complex he had troubles finding a non-locked door. He really thought about going back and get Jones to blow some open with C4, but then he stepped on a spot which creaked dangerously.

That gave him an idea and he jumped a few times until the steel cat way broke and allowed him access to a lower level. Here the doors were still open.

After a little ride on the lift – without music – he came to the main control centre of the complex, and it was only here that he realised how huge it truly was. "I'm in the main control" he announced, "But what is this huge thing?"

"This station consists of two parts. The Primary Operation Complex (POC) and the Forward Observation Pods (FOPs). And several outposts, of course. They are connected via tunnels, but can be operated independently. A few weeks ago they lost contact to the POC, and with it to the pods, too. That's why our simple recon mission was turned into a retrieval mission. Sorry, Frosty."

"Ah, it's okay" Akai snorted, "But you should've told me earlier."

"We didn't want to upset you more than necessary, agent. You're not trained for something like this after all."

"Oh, I did things I weren't trained for before. Wait, I'll activate the main energy."

At once all generators screamed into life when the outpost was flooded with light. Akai was proud on himself.

But this pride did not remain for long.

"Shit!" Hall's voice suddenly sounded over the radio, "Shit! We woke something!"

Suddenly there were shots sounding over the radio. Cold sweat appeared on Akai's back.

"Fuck!" Decker roared, "Fuck! Where are these things from?!"

"The ceiling!" Hall shouted, "The ceiling!"  
And then Akai heard strange screaming and hissing noises, akin to animals, but some he'd never heard before.

But then he noted that the noises did not come from the radio.

No.

They came from behind him.

Akai whirled around with his gun ready. And he discovered it as it crouched drivelling with bared teeth behind him.


	4. Aliens

Akai stepped back. The creature before him crawled closer and the agent swallowed heavily. Because he would never even have dreamt about such a beast.

A creature directly from the deepest pits of the darkest nightmare. Black as the night and glistering, with no visible eyes but protruding ribs that formed an armor. The head was long and stretched back and rested between the massive spikes on the thing's back. It had eerily human hands and feet and a long, slender tail with a blade at its tip.

It hissed again and rose to its hind feet. Suddenly it was as tall as Akai! The long tail whipped through the air in agitation when it watched its prey, baring almost translucent but razor sharp teeth.

"Shit" Akai said.

The creature – the alien – screeched and jumped the whole distance to Akai with a single leap. Only Akai's quick reflexes saved him when the creature slammed into a computer.

Hissing angrily it freed itself, but Akai had already drawn his gun. He squeezed the trigger before it could attack him again.

The hollow-point bullet hit the alien directly into its head and tore it apart. A huge, gaping hole opened up on the beasts' temple and it screamed, striking blindly at the air and finally slumped down.

Akai registered a biting stench and watched in horror how the yellowish blood of the creature eroded the ground.

"Acid Blood?!" the agent screeched indignantly, "What's that shit?!" But he caught himself and muttered: "Anyways… I shouldn't stay here."

But when he reached the door a massive blow hit it from the outside and he jumped back. More aliens were on the other side, trying to break through, hissing and screeching enraged. The door held. It was dented, but it held.

"Not good" Akai said. He turned back. The dead alien lay still where it had been, and behind the carcass he discovered another air vent cover. "Air vents, it is."

Just as those words left his lips the cover was torn away and another black alien jumped from the pipe. Akai jumped out of his skin and whipped out his gun, but the beast had already jumped and tackled the agent to the ground. Its sharp claws tore a deep, but not life-threatening wound into the man's body. Akai clenched his teeth shut and kicked his feet against the beast, trying to shove it from his body.

"Damn! What did you ugly something eat? Stones?"

The alien didn't like that, though. From its slavering jaws shot another pair of jaws and snapped only millimetres away from Akai's nose tip. Akai suppressed a scream and reached frantically for his knife, grabbed it and drove it deep into the creature's brain.

It reared up and screeched, and Akai rolled out from under it to prevent being hit by the highly acidic blood of the beast. He snatched his pistol and shot it twice into the back. It went down like its forerunner.

Akai wheezed. "Damn!" he cursed, "That's not what I signed up for!"

He wanted to retrieve his knife but found it dissolved by the alien blood. "Wonderful" he groaned. However, he quickly remembered the blade at the beast's tail.

"Ah, whatever" he grunted and quickly cut the alien's tail off using the tail of the other. Much to his relieve he found no acid blood in the tail tip itself. "It'll need a little getting used to, but it'll do" he muttered, shoved his makeshift dagger into his belt and climbed down the air vent.

-o0o-

"I need a better weapon" the agent growled. His shot gun was very effective against the oncoming alien hordes but it needed far too long for shooting and reloading.

And what hordes those were. Up to five aliens jumped at him at once! And he did carry some minor injuries from their attacks. Only through sheer dumb luck he wasn't injured worse up until now. And because he was a damned good shooter.

Still. He wanted another weapon.

Akai cursed curtly and shot two more aliens which had tried to nip his calves. By now he had discovered another kind of those creatures. They were smaller, flesh-coloured with less spikes, were easier to kill but faster.

To make things more difficult all of them could crawl along walls like over-sized insects.

Shuu entered another room. Quickly he realised it must've been some kind of lab once. And here he found a new weapon.

He whistled through his teeth and took it, but found it incredible heavy – 40 pounds at least! And huge! Four feet long and with that taller than the little boy with glasses! But he found 600 rounds as well and took it with him.

"M56 Smartgun" he read on a tag. "A smart gun, eh? Let's see how smart."

Much to his surprise it was as smart as promised. When he rounded the next corner more black-gleaming aliens raced screaming towards him.

"Not on my watch!" he yelled and squeezed the trigger. The Smartgun spew bullets at once and – much to his surprise – aimed on its own at the attacking beasts.

Astonished he lowered the weapon and looked at the pile of dead aliens a few feet away. A huge beaming grin split his face. "A self-aiming gun! That's such a cool present. Thanks Santa!"

From there it went much easier through the complex. Of course there were still problems, especially when the creatures sneaked in from behind or dropped from the ceiling, but the agent avoided that by pressing his back into the wall. However, the Smartgun lay heavy in his arms and slowed his advance significantly. It was no wonder when the next bad news reached him.

"Damnit, Akai!" McCain screamed through the radio. Akai heard the roaring of machine guns and the screaming of aliens in the background. "Hurry up! The bugs are overrunning us!"

"What?!"

"We are deep in trouble! We have to get away!"

Shuu stopped as if turned to stone. His heart nearly jumped out of his throat. His team was in immediate danger, and he did not know when he would reach them. He swallowed and met his decision: "Get away."

"Excuse me?"

"Get away from here, now!"

"We're not leaving anyone behind, Akai!"

"You have to" Akai said and dragged his hand through his hair – he'd lost his knitted wool cap a while ago. "Look, I saw an armored vehicle – an APC – just before. I'll take that, get the White Team and meet you again later."

On the other side it was silent for a while. Finally McCain answered: "Then we'll get away. We'll meet again at the Rendezvous point."

Akai breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay."

"Don't you dare to die, am I clear? I do not want to tell your bosses that you were eaten by an alien, agent!"

"Aye, Sir."

"…Good luck."

The channel went silent. Akai stood a while in the half-light of the flickering lights and wondered whether he'd done the right thing. Then he shook his head and continued on.

Soon he found the garage with the APC inside. After having dealt with all aliens he barricaded the door and went towards the vehicle. It was a huge thing, 30 feet long, 12 and a half wide and over 9 high. It carried a massive double-barrelled gun torrent on its roof and armored with thick plates. Its four five-foot wheels had to carry a weight of nearly 32000 pounds, while powerful gas turbines accelerated it up to 93 miles per hour.

Braking would be a little difficult with it, but therefore there was nothing that could stop this thing.

"I've always wanted to drive one of those" he said and got in. Soon afterwards the APC broke through the thick steel doors of the garage as if they were thin aluminium foil and drove into the direction of the POC. The White Team was there and they too were deep in shit.

-o0o-

About half an hour later Akai reached the Primary Operation Complex. It was like a city, but dark and eerie. Nothing moved except for those terrible insects and – of course – the occasional alien.

Akai killed the engine when he discovered the White Team huddling in a makeshift cover. They looked at him with big eyes and came over.

"Frosty?!"

"Hey guys, I thought I'd come over" His face went serious again: "What's the situation?"

"Hall was taken" Louis told him, "And Decker's badly burnt. Thank god you're here, we have to get away."

Akai felt the colour draining from his face: "Hall is gone? How?"

"I don't know. She must've been taken by those bugs."

Akai would not let this case rest. Hall had helped him during his adaptation phase, she showed him the ropes. And she reminded him of Akemi.

"My motion-tracker can read life signs, right?"

"Yeah, but… You're not planning to go in there, are you, Frosty?!"

"You heard what the Major said. Those things are parasites. They will want her alive."

Quait shook his head: "She's gone, Frosty, and we should, too!"

"I'm not leaving her behind!"

"That's suicide!"

But Akai would not be shaken from his intention. "I'll get her out of there."

"That's crazy!"

"You'll wait in the APC for me, all right? I will bring her back."


	5. The Nest

Against the general opinion Akai spent a lot of time regretting many things. Most of all things he said.

Right now it was the decision to free Hall from the claws of the aliens.

The POC was abandoned. Shuu felt insecure, as if he walked through a ghost town. Which he did in some way. The streets – if one could call them that – were broad and dusty. On either side towered threateningly dark building canyons. Everything was dark, and the silence was only broken by Shuu's radio, the fluttering of the bugs and the eerie groaning of the remaining machines.

"Frosty, this is crazy" Louis repeated again.

"Believe me. I know" Akai muttered, ignored the soldier and grabbed his Smartgun harder. His Shotgun hung on his back, his pistol right and his alien dagger left on his belt. By now Akai found out that he could cut through thin metal plates with little to no effort with it.

Every time he saw one of the alien's tails out of the corner of his eyes he flinched violently. He knew they were here and watched him, but he also knew that they knew he was aware of their presence.

These creatures were more intelligent than he had originally thought.

But Akai continued anyways. He had a mission, and nothing would sway him.

The agent just passed the cargo area. The stench of decay hung heavily in the air, and that was surely not only from the dead animals everywhere. He stopped and stared in disgust down at something that had been a cat once. Why the hell did they need cats, dogs and monkeys here? Surely not as pets.

Then he recalled that the aliens needed hosts to grow up and the pieces fell together. "Bastards" he growled, "Why are they breeding those things?"

He shook himself and left the area. Soon he discovered the personnel quarters. And his way led him there.

Akai lit a magnesium torch and stepped inside the complex. It looked as if a storm had hit here. Everything was smashed and destroyed, and blood and body parts were everywhere. The agent gulped and continued.

And then he saw it.

"The nest" he whispered and his knees turned to jelly.

In front of him, on the wall, was something organic. It had surely not been here before the aliens came. He touched the blue-grey stuff and immediately retreated his hand. It was warm and lightly slimy. It grew like vines from the wall. And in the center yawned a large black hole, just large enough for a man to slip through.

The entrance to the nest.

Akai shook in disgust. "And I have to get through there, of course. Super, Akai" he muttered under his breath. But he had to. So he threw his revulsion away and crawled on hands and knees into the underworld.

-o0o-

Inside the nest it was even more sinister than outside. Besides the pervasive destruction everywhere there was also this blue-grey stuff covering everything. It crawled over the floor, blocked doors and enclosed the computer. From time to time there was a working lamp, but that was more the exception. Shuu frowned when he looked worried at the charge level of his flashlight.

A nearby hissing tore him from his trance and he took aim with the Smartgun, but the alien had already disappeared.

However when he rounded the next corner he stopped dead in his tracks. His mouth dried up.

In front of him lay another hallway. And there were humans!

"What the…" Akai began. They were all employees of Weyland; guards, mercenaries, scientists, and they all were glued to walls and the ceiling. Organic material surrounded them.

Most of them were dead, though. In the middle of their chests gaped a huge hole. The agent swallowed his nausea down.

Then he heard quiet moaning. One of them was still alive!

Akai ran down the hallway and found a soldier on one wall. The man groaned in pain.

"Hey!" Akai called, "I'll get you out of that! Wait…"

The man looked up and Akai backed off in horror. He looked like a zombie, with grey, sunken skin and deep dark rings beneath his pale eyes. He groaned again before he croaked: "What… are… you… doing… here?" Even speaking was too difficult for him.

"I am looking for my comrade. She was abducted and brought here… wait, I'll get you down" Akai said and reached for his dagger.

"…s too late" the soldier moaned, "When your… comrade is here… it's too late for her, too" Suddenly there was a terrible crunching sound. The soldier started screaming and fought against his bonds, and Akai noticed with sheer terror the sounds coming from _inside_ the other man's chest. But as fast as they came they stopped, and the injured man slumped down. "Get… away… s long as you still can" he rasped and blood flew out of his mouth. Then he became unconscious and Akai could only find himself thanking for that small mercy.

"Shit!" the Japanese cursed, "I need to get Hall out of here!"

He crossed another hallway and reached a – oddly still working – lift. It was the only way to continue and so he continued downwards, ever deeper into the nest of the beasts.

The deeper the lift brought him, the more worry boiled up in him. Would he reach Hall in time? What would await him?

He was abruptly torn from his reverie when the lift stopped. Akai held his Smartgun harder and exited.

Down here it looked even worse than in the upper levels. The aliens were here longer it seemed. Except for the rough shape of the halls he couldn't recognise anything. His steps did not echo anymore, but rather produced a wet sound. He felt like walking on rubber.

Hot steam erupted everywhere, and he had to duck more than once. But then he discovered an object, something, that did not fit into the whole view.

"Is that… an egg?" he asked confused.

"Shit!" someone said and he almost jumped before remembering his radio. "An egg? You have to get away right now, Frosty! Those things are dangerous!"

In that very moment the egg opened up like a nightmarish flower.

"Now we'll see how dangerous" Akai huffed and took his gun. Long, spidery, pale fingers came out of the egg and clawed into the leathery surface.

Akai gulped again when a spider-like creature with a long tail crawled out of the egg. It squeaked and jumped with a single, incredible leap towards him. Akai ducked his head and the spider jumped against the wall, oriented itself anew and readied for another jump. But Akai shot thrice and killed it on the spot. It too had acid as blood.

"Shitting thing!" the agent cursed.

"Is everything alright, Frosty?" one of his buddies asked.

"Yeah. A spider-thing just wanted to jump me."

"Did it got you?"

"No. I killed it before it managed to."

"Just be careful, you hear me, Frosty?"

Akai agreed and continued.

-o0o-

After he walked for about two more minutes the tunnel opened up to a broader hallway. There were a few more eggs and on the wall…

"Hall!" Akai shouted and wanted to run towards her, but remembered the eggs and took care of those first. Only then did he reach his trapped comrade.

"Hall!" he repeated. She was bound against the wall like the other people in here and looked very unhealthy as well. But she lifted her head when Akai reached her side and drew his alien dagger to cut her free.

"Frosty…?" she asked, and her voice was raspy and raw.

"I'll get you out of here" Akai told her and cold sweat dripped from his face.

But she shook her head weakly. "It's too late for… ARGH!" From her chest sounded an ugly crunching and tearing, and Akai stepped back. Tears started to spill from her eyes and she screamed: "Damn it! Shoot me Akai! Finish it!"

Shuu was horrified. "I… what?! I can't kill you!" _You remind me of Akemi._ "I'll get you out of there!"

The crunching became louder and a blood spot appeared on her chest. Hall screamed and spit blood. "I am dead already! Finish it!"

And then her vest tore apart and her screams turned into a whet gurgling before stopping altogether. Her chest was torn apart from the inside when the eyeless head of an alien shoved itself free. It was pale and stained with blood, but it was a baby-alien without doubt. It even had the second set of jaws inside the first.

Hissing it wound free from the grotesque wound, and Akai felt like throwing up, too shocked to do something. With a jerk and a wet splat the creature landed on the ground and coiled its serpentine body up, hissing at Akai.

Akai's vision turned red and he drew his gun. "Bastard!" he screamed and squeezed the trigger, again and again until the monster was dead and his clip empty.

"My god" he heard the voice of the other soldiers.

And then he heard something else. Hissing, screeching, the sound of hands and feet and claws against the wet rubber.

They came. And they came in huge numbers.

"Frosty!" Louis shouted, "Get out of there! Run as fast as you can!"

This time Akai did not refuse. He threw his Smartgun away and picked up Hall's forgotten M41A 'Pulse Rifle'. It only weighed a quarter of the Smartgun.

With that he turned on his heel and flew down the corridor. He did not look back, because he guessed what followed him: Aliens. They were alarmed ever since he entered the nest, and now they had found him and hunted him. He saw that there must've been dozens when he entered the lift again and activated it panicked.

Shortly before the aliens reached it, it started to move and drove upwards. But the hissing and screaming remained and pursued him.

He did not wait for what would happen and tore out of there as soon as the doors had opened. Adrenaline flooded through his veins and drove him forwards; his stomach cramped and his lungs burnt when he dove out of the nest. Only moments afterwards he was back on the street and sprinted down.

An alien jumped, missed and crashed into a few crates. Angrily screaming it freed itself and took up pursuing again.

"Come on Frosty, you can make it!"

Akai ran, his feet barely touched the ground. When he rounded another corner he realised how many aliens were following him. It weren't only dozens, it must've been hundreds. Like a huge swarm of ants they raced down the streets and along the walls, crawled over one another and screamed in anger. Fear for his life urged him onwards. He had promised his sister to return to her, and he would not break his promise.

He already saw the APC in front of him, and it made him go even faster. His men stood in the open vehicle and shouted for him, but paled upon discovering the swarm of aliens.

And then the canon on the roof started to spew a hail of bullets. Several aliens were torn apart by the bullets; the others screamed, turned tail and – much to everyone's relief - ran away.

Shuu did not risk anything and ran the last few feet before he dove through the open hatch of the APC. The White Team was there and helped him back up when the vehicle started moving.

Quait looked down to him and asked: "Wow. Were you a top sprinter once or does they teach that in the FBI?"

Despite everything Akai had to laugh.

It probably was the adrenaline.


	6. The Gate

The rocking of the APC came to a stop. Akai awoke from his half-sleep as the massive vehicle stopped moving. He sat up and asked tired: "What's the matter?"

Louis calmed him down: "We found the Red Team. Don't worry, we're almost in the Pods. Doss down for a bit, okay?"

Shuu nodded and lay back onto the hard bench. But he couldn't simply doze off again. His thoughts were constantly circling around Hall. He had seen her dieing, killed by an alien parasite breaking out from her chest. "Nobody deserves to go like that" he muttered, and Louis and Mulder looked at him sympathetically. They too were shocked about Hall's death, but they weren't there when she died.

Instead they left Shuu and the injured Decker behind when they exited the APC. Outside was the Red Team waiting for them. They too had an APC from somewhere and sent Johnson with the Dropship back to the Verloc for repairs.

"Major" Mulder greeted him, "We found Agent Akai" Then he lowered his gaze and added quietly: "And lost Sergeant Hall."

McCain sighed: "She was a good soldier. We can mourn for her once we're out of here, but we need to retreat into safety first."

"Major" Jones said and came over, "We have a problem."

"Oh my. What is it this time?"

"Well… the tunnels have been sealed off. We can't reach the pods."

"Did you try opening the doors?"

"We can't do anything from here, Sir. They have to be opened from the inside… or we use Duke as a battering ram."

"Haha. Really funny, Jones."

"Shugi, report."

The Asian looked at her computer pad. "A soldier on foot might be able to guide the APCs through. Each section has to be opened by hand, and the one before will be closed again."

"That's suicide!" Louis threw in, "It's crawling with bugs in there!"

"Out here soon too!" Shugi retorted, "We have to reach the Pods or we will be overrun!"

"Can't we wait inside the APCs until Johnson returns with the Dropship?"

"Negative" Mulder said deploring, "Decker needs a doc, and who knows how long we'll have to wait for Johnson."

McCain looked over to the heavy steel doors. He sighed again and said: "Apparently it's the only possibility."

"The guy, that has to do that, has to have balls of steel" Duke muttered.

The elderly major shook his head: "We need brains, not balls, Duke."

"I'll go."

Everyone turned to Akai, who just exited the APC. Smiling slightly he said: "I've got both, brains and balls. And I'm pretty speedy."

"That's right" Louis said, "Frosty participated in a race against the bugs, and he won."

"Should you go back into the field already?" Mulder asked, "You look a little pale around your gills."

"I'm fine" Akai staved off, "And I can't sleep anyways. I'll do it."

McCain nodded. "Alright. But be careful."

"Ain't I always?"

"…I'm not answering to that."

-o0o-

As soon as the entry door closed behind Akai the paranoia returned. The tunnel was divided into many sections. A dusty lane – just wide enough for an APC and long enough for two – was in the middle with a raised, narrow board way on either side. Each section was closed with enforced steel doors. The whole thing resembled a water lock.

Quickly the FBI agent found the first lever to open the first door. However, as soon as he had activated it, the ceiling collapsed and a black alien jumped directly at him.

"I don't have time for this kind of shit!" Akai yelled and shot the creature before it could reach him. He kicked the dead alien aside and snorted: "If you're smart, you stay down, bitch!"

Slowly the agent advanced, always staying in contact with his men. After having found and activated the second control station and killed every single alien, he heard Duke's voice: "Super, Frosty. Keep going. We're providing you with cover."

"Know what's crazy?" Akai asked then, "Half a year ago my biggest worry was to be shot by a psychopathic mobster. Now I have to worry about…" he broke off, whirled around and shot two advancing aliens before continuing: "…to be eaten and/or abducted as kindergarten by aliens!"

Duke laughed a bit: "See? One can get used to everything. Just take care you won't die, otherwise we're stuck in here."

"Don't worry, Duke. I once survived being shot in the lung and head, shoved into a burning car and tossed off a cliff. I'm not going to get myself killed by a bunch of extraterrestrial bugs!"

On the other side of the channel everyone laughed loudly. "We should name you 'Highlander'! But seriously…" Duke became more silent again, "…what should we do if you don't return? That can happen faster than you think."

Akai stopped for a moment, looking for another exit. None there, one door was closed off, the other besieged by aliens. "If… if I shouldn't make it… go to my sister and tell her… tell her I'm sorry and that I always loved her."

"Yeah, the little sister… Hey! I'll hold her hand and give her my shoulder to cry and then we'll…"

"Don't you even dare, Duke!"

"I'm joking. Don't die, you hear me? Then you can say your baby sister that you love her on your own!"

"I will" Akai said. He discovered a closed air vent and inspected the lock. A simple combination lock. The agent snuffled, drew out a small blow torch and made quick work of the lock. Then he crawled deeper into the sinister darkness.

His job was not over yet.

-o0o-

Up to the third station everything went somewhat smoothly. Akai had to kill a lot more aliens and climb through various air vents, but he advanced quickly.

But the fourth station was a problem.

"Fuck!" he yelled, "This one's toast!"

"Damn" McCain said, "Is there any other way to continue?"

"There is one" Shugi said after a while, "The main safety has to be shut down, and we can break through the wall then. Frosty, the safety should be somewhere below you."

"Somewhere, she says" Akai muttered, discovered a maintenance opening and climbed down. Soon he reached the safety, pulled a lever and climbed back up, went through a hallway and reached the fifth station.

And here was the next problem.

"Shit. The door's locked!"

"Is there any possibility to enter?"

"I don't see any."

"Well get into cover first. We're coming through."

The wall was blown open and the APC drove through a cloud of dust and dirt. Once again Akai marvelled at the power of the vehicle and asked himself whether he would be allowed to drive one in Tokyo.

And he had an idea. He called Duke and Jones to his position and they moved a few tanks full of highly explosive fuel in front of the locked door.

"And now?"

"Watch and learn, Duke" Akai replied smirking and shot at the tank. The following explosion was deafening and opened the way to the last control station.

"Nice" Jones said, "Are you doing that often in Tokyo?"

"No. I hadn't had the chance to blow up any door yet" He paused. "But I did blow up a train."

The three reached the last station and just wanted to pull the lever when Mulder suddenly cursed: "Shit!"

"What do you mean with 'Shit'?"

"Let me put it this way" Mulder said slowly, "If there are survivors in the Pods, their situation just got a whole lot worse."


	7. Betrayal

There were indeed survivors in the Pods. The APCs came to a stop and emptied their contents. Akai looked awestruck at the Forward Observation Pods.

The area was a crater, embedded between giant, steep cliffs. The plain itself was surrounded by man-tall electric fences. Massive automatic gun torrents secured everything as well, and in the middle stood a concrete watch tower.

The Pods themselves were huge cylindrical structures hanging from giant steel beams. They were about 170 feet in the air. There were five, but one of them, the number 5, lay shattered on the ground. All others looked intact. Heavy cargo lifts – large enough for an APC – were on the lower side of each Pod, the only entrance into this fortress. Each Pod was connected with several skywalks to the others.

Akai nodded towards Pod Nr. 5 and asked: "What happened there?"

"An unpleasant incident" someone said with a greasy voice. Akai turned and discovered two men. One of them looked like Professor Snape from the 'Harry Potter' movies; the other was an old, heavily-built Russian. The agent recognised both. The first one was Professor Eisenberg, a pioneer on the Xenomorph-studies; the other General Vassili Rykov, leader of the Russian mercenary group 'Iron Bears'. He had heard some rather ugly rumours about both.

He straightened up and tried to look professional when Eisenberg explained: "Almost three months ago Pod Number 5 had been infested with Xenomorphs. We had to separate it to deal with the infestation. But don't worry. We have everything under control and increased our security measures" He crossed his arms behind his back and said: "Welcome to the Forward Observation Pods."

"You brought down our defense grids" the old Russian growled, and Akai felt the anger of the old man, "Six of my men died today."

"I'm sorry about your men" McCain replied, "But your company decided we didn't need all information about your defense systems."

"We made alterations" Eisenberg threw in, "You can never be too save."

"Whatever. My men are ready to start helping out – but we need some medical attention first, because one of my men had been injured."

"We repaired what could be repaired" Rykov said angrily, "But there are five teams out in the field. You may have killed more than we know."

"We'll do everything in our power to get them out" McCain promised. "But first we need to establish contact to the 'Verloc'."

"Our landlines were separated when the POC went down. We have been cut off for six weeks."

"We set transmitters into the tunnels. With your permission agent Akai will re-establish a com-link to the 'Verloc'."

"That would be preferable" Eisenberg turned to a scientist behind him: "Please accompany the agent to our communication systems."

"Yes, Sir."

Shortly afterwards were Akai, the scientist, two medics and the injured Decker on the lift and on their way into the Pods. McCain and the remaining team stayed behind to prepare themselves. On the way upwards Akai noted Rykov taking one of his men to the side and spoke with him. Immediately his instincts screamed out in alarm.

"What do they want?" he wondered. He looked back into the yawning maws of the Pod. "Something is not right here" he told himself. But there was no way back and soon he was swallowed by the Pod.

-o0o-

Akai sat all alone in the communication room. The computers were developed more than he'd like.

"What shall that mean you don't accept my codes?!" Akai felt like throwing the thing into a corner, changed his mind and bypassed the system. And he had contact!

"Aha! I knew this computer course would pay off… oh? A message?"

"_Incoming transmission: Rosters have been altered. Scientists are already dead. Your team is in… Fatal data error."_

The computer died and Akai stared at it with big eyes. "What the…?"

The door suddenly opened and Akai nearly jumped. A dark-haired woman with a machine gun had just entered.

"Hey. You startled me."

"I am afraid there are problems with this terminal" the woman said with a heavy Russian accent. Akai recognised her as Major Dunya, a Russian mercenary with a more than dubious reputation. "Please follow me to another one."

Despite each hair standing on his neck Akai got up and followed the Russian. Soon they reached a glass bridge connecting the rooms inside the Pod. It was here that Dunya broke the silence: "It takes a cunning man to take down our defense grid."

Akai cringed a bit. "Well, that was our computer, not me. I was just following orders."

A mysterious, cold smile came to her lips. "I like brave men."

Akai arched an eyebrow: "Really?"

"Men like my fiancé Dimitri."

"Fiancé?" the agent was silent for a while. "Man, my luck with women never changes."

"Don't worry. He is dead" Dunya retorted coldly, "He was outside when the defense grid went down. A casualty."

"Oh…" Shuu did not know how to react to that. It was basically his fault that they died. "I'm truly sorry."

Dunya got a call in that moment. She listened to it and said: "I understand. I'll bring him over" Addressing Akai she said: "After you, please."

"Okay" Akai turned towards the door, but suddenly a sharp pain hit his body and he fell to the ground. Before everything turned black he saw Dunya above him lowering her gun. Then all lights went off.

-oo0oo-

When Shuu came to, his head hurt like hell. Groaning he sat up, noting, that he sat on a narrow, hard bed. He was confused for a long moment, but then somebody said: "Slow, buddy. Did you just come out of cold sleep?"

"Huh?" Akai asked intelligently and looked up. In front of him stood an unpleasant looking guy with simple, grey clothing. Numbers were printed on them and Akai noted horrified that these were prison uniforms and – what was even more horrifying – that he wore them, too. He looked around. The room was small, with six bunk beds above one another, some shelves and a toilet. A large bullet-proof window dominated one wall and behind that he discovered Dunya. Anger boiled up inside him.

"Hey, what are you in for?" his cell mate asked.

"In for?" Akai asked confused, his anger evaporated for now.

The other rolled his eyes: "What crime were you convicted of?"

"That's a mistake! I'm not a convict, I'm a FBI agent!"

The other chuckled: "Yeah right. And I'm innocent."

Akai dragged his hand through his hair. "I've got to get out of here" But… how should he do that? He was unarmed and his clothing was gone.

He watched Dunya having a talk with the prison ward before going away. Shuu had the ungodly feeling that he was the subject of their talk.

His suspicions were confirmed when there was an announcement: "Prisoner Number 6, keep ready for implantation."

"That's you" his 'room mate' said, "Man, you must've really pissed someone off. Out of the freezer and into the frying pan."

"I really got to get out of here."

"Hah!" the criminal said suddenly, "These idiots are becoming careless. Now they're working alone!"

Akai watched the door opening and the guard entering. In the same moment the prisoner shot forwards with a dagger in his hand. The guard did not hesitate and shot the attacker. In the same moment Akai had slipped behind him and laid his arm hard around his neck.

It did not take long for the man to collapse unconscious. Akai took his gun and was already running out of the prison wing.

He quickly found the lockers with the prisoner's personal items and broke open the Number six – his number. But then he heard the steps of several guards and could only snatch his alien knife before high-tailing. He climbed into an open maintenance tunnel and was out of sight when the guards reached the lockers.

"Shit!" Akai cursed in Japanese, "I've got to get out and contact McCain!" The alarm rang out and Shuu's hopes were destroyed. "Fuck!"

He had to get out. Quickly he sneaked along the maintenance tunnel and tried to remember the layout of the Pod. But he didn't know where he was in the convoluted maze of hallways and tunnels. He only knew he had to get down to the cargo lift. But therefore he had to find better weapons, because the soldiers here would not let him get away under any circumstances. To them he was just an escapee, an armed one to top. And as such they would simply shoot him on sight.

And he was not even trying to be pessimistic!

Akai sighed, looked around and continued. There had to be a way outside.


	8. Flight

The FBI agent continued creeping through the endless hallways and the confusing air vents. He still had no idea where he was and was becoming desperate. Perhaps he should capitulate and reveal himself as FBI agent Shuichi Akai? But then again, he had no ID and only Eisenberg and Rykov could identify him…

Major McCain and the rest of his men were probably already on their way to the rescue missions. Rescue Missions that – as he had found out – were traps. But why should Rykov and Eisenberg want to erase the Marines?

They had to hide something! That was the only possible solution – and the reason why Akai was still here. The agent thought back to the day when he took this disastrous recon mission.

This recon mission had long since turned into a fight for survival, said the little voice in his mind. He had wanted to clear the strange occurrences quickly, and got himself right into a conflict between ruthless and partially mad scientists and vicious Russian mercenaries against extremely dangerous, highly intelligent alien monsters. And he was right in the middle!

Akai crept through another air vent, thankfully for not running into any aliens this time. But he had heard that at least one of those things was running around here. With a frowning look down to his meagre equipment – a pistol with 8 rounds and his alien dagger – he prayed to all gods that he would not be the one coming to contact with the creature first.

His mood improved rapidly upon discovering where he had landed.

"Jackpot!" he thought to himself, climbed out of the air vent and into the locker room. Here he would surely find some ammunition and – while looking down at himself – some armor. He didn't want to run unarmored into any alien. Many of his new wounds had not been fatal because he had worn armor.

So he rummaged through the lockers and found – much to his relieve – ammunition for his pistol, a new Shotgun with armor-piercing ammo and at least a chest armor!

However, when he was about to put that one on, a voice suddenly echoed from a forgotten radio set. "Soldier, in thirty seconds you'll be dead."

It was a distorted voice and Akai whirled around: "What?!"

"See the camera over the door?" asked the voice, "I re-routed the feed so only I can see you; but if I keep this for very long someone's bound to notice."

"Who are you?"

The mysterious voice did not react towards that. Instead it said: "I want you to do something for me."

"I don't negotiate with corporate spies."

"I'm not negotiating" the voice replied annoyed, "Get my package and we'll talk about your team."

Akai narrowed his eyes and glared at the camera: "Where do you know that from?"

"Do we have a deal?"

The agent snorted: "I do not have much choice. If you can get me out of here, I'll get your package."

"Good. Take the radio. Only I can contact you with it."

The agent sighed again and picked up the device. He asked himself in all seriousness whether this mission could get any worse.

-o0o-

Yes, this mission could get worse. Right now he was standing on a catwalk leading over a pit full of alien eggs.

"Do I really have to go through here?!"

"If you don't want to go around the whole Pod, yes. Just keep your distance and the eggs won't wake up. Otherwise run."

Shuu questioned himself why he listened to that mysterious voice anyway.

"There he is!" someone shouted and Akai threw his thoughts over board. Quickly he ran across the catwalk and jumped into the pit. His pursuers had discovered him. So he ran until he discovered a deep, blue hole. Water.

"You know how to swim, right?"

A shot went off and grazed his unprotected shoulder, but he dove into the submerged tunnel anyways.

He swam until his air almost ran out and when he arrived at a closed wire mesh gate. He cursed internally, pulled his alien dagger and cut through the wire. Once again his trophy saved his life, because there was another chute on the other side where he could breathe again.

"You have to climb up here. There's the main security pad for this whole sector, and you need to shut if off if you want to continue to the implantation lab where my package is."

Shuu looked at said pad. Bad memories rose in his mind. "Last time I shut off any security grids six men died."

"Not this time" the voice calmed him, "They'll note quickly that it's off; but that'll take a few minutes. And you need those few minutes" The voice fell silent before adding: "But the stasis field around the egg pits will be deactivated, too."

"Super. Is there any other way?"

"No."

Akai groaned and deactivated the security grid. Then he dove again, cut through another mesh door and resurfaced on the other end of the tunnel.

Right in another egg pit.

Shuu cursed in every language he knew. Only afterwards his partner spoke: "Wow. I don't even know half of those languages… Anyways. Run like hell!"

"Again" Akai growled and sprinted. He barely passed the first eggs that they awoke and released spider-things. But Akai was faster and climbed onto the catwalk. The ladders and walls were built in such way that the aliens couldn't climb up under any circumstance.

He just left the room and was already discovered by the first soldiers. Once again he ran for his life, just like that time after he found Hall. Only this time there was no APC to rescue him. He would have to help himself.

During his escape he discovered an open air vent and slipped in before the soldiers could see it. Quickly and quietly he crept deeper and held his breath until the soldiers were gone.

"The lab is right above you" his partner said. Akai nodded, even though he knew his partner couldn't see him. Silent he sneaked out of the air vent again and into another room. It was empty save for a pillar reaching into the room above through a hole in the ceiling.

"Where am I?" Shuu asked.

"Directly underneath the implantation lab" the voice explained, "The pillar over there is the hydraulic foot of a stasis chamber. It's stored down here before they work up there."

"And how should I get 'up there'?"

"Remember the rope climbing in school?" the voice asked and Akai swore it would smirk.

The agent groaned: "I hated it."

"Then you can keep hating it. Climb up there, find the lift out of the lab and get my package. I'll pilot you out of there afterwards."

"Alright, alright… Akai do this, Akai do that… what am I? A delivery boy?"

Akai started climbing up the hydraulic cylinder anyways. Fear of discovery and the will to survive drove him onwards, and soon he climbed through the hole into the laboratory.

He found himself in an oval room with steep, tall walls. The wall in front of him consisted of bullet-proof glass in the upper half, allowing the scientists up there to see into the room. The stasis chamber itself looked like a futuristic coffin. Shuu didn't look into it. Why should he? He had better things to do.

Unfortunately the lift was locked, and without his hacking device he wouldn't be able to open it.

"I can't open the lift" said the voice regretfully, "You'll need to find your own way out of there."

"Super" Akai growled. He strolled aimlessly through the lab and pushed random buttons and browsing through documents left behind.

There he came across an interesting word. "Predators?" he asked, "What do they mean with 'Predators'?"

"A newly discovered kind of alien, I think" his partner said slowly, "I don't know either."

"Hmm… whatever" Akai sighed and went to another control pad. After having pushed a few buttons he was finally rewarded with the hissing sound of compressed air – the sound of the doors everywhere in the complex. A grin crept onto his features and he quickly made his way back to the lift.

Only to find it still locked!

"What the… but they opened a door here somewhere!"

"WATCH OUT!" his companion screamed and Akai widened his eyes. He grabbed his pistol and whirled around, but he was grabbed hard around his throat and slammed violently against a wall. His feet were a foot above the ground and his pistol fell from his grasp.

An enraged bellowing – one too familiar to be comforting – greeted him, and his mouth dried up. 'Predator' went through Shuu's head upon seeing the creature which held him in its claws.

A Predator. There was no other word for it.

"Shit."


	9. New Alliance

Akai swallowed heavily – which wasn't easy because of the massive claw around his neck – and stared unbelievingly at the creature in front of him.

Other than the black aliens this one had a human shape. It was huge, over eight feet tall and almost 500 pounds heavy. It had massive muscles underneath a thick, almost reptile-like skin – no truly human frame could have supported such musculature.

It had nearly black claw-like nails; five fingers but only four toes and spikes on its ankles. The skin itself was something between grass green and light brown, running over to a mud brown on the creature's back with a very nice spot pattern. It wore armour made from silvery metal plates – if one could call this barely shrouding something made from metal plates and wire mesh 'armour'.

But it was the head of the creature that fascinated and rejected Akai. The skull itself was rather large and without visible forehead. The flattened top was carrying some sharp-edged bone bulges and was hairless except for some stiff bristles. There was also a scar shaped somewhat like a crown above the creature's right eye. Long dreadlocks hung over the broad shoulders of the beast. The face on the other hand looked like that of a crab. No nose, but four mandible surrounding rather narrow jaws. It had only few teeth, but they were sharp, and no tongue.

Underneath thick brows glared two amber-coloured, nearly human eyes angrily at the agent.

The creature opened its maws again and spread the mandibles open when it roared the agent directly into his face. He recognised that roar; he had heard it only a day or so ago when he was shot at with blue ball lightning.

"SHIT!" Akai's radio screamed and it confused the creature for a moment, "You've got to get out of there!"

"Believe me" Akai grunted, "I know."

With all his strength he kicked at the beast and hit it on the chest. Akai was sure it hurt him more than it did the beast, but it startled it. The Predator made a noise sounding suspiciously like the yowling of a dog and let go off Akai. The agent fell back to his feet and reached blindly for his shotgun, but the hunter was already back and backhanded Akai violently. He saw stars and crashed against the control panel. But then he remembered his sister and turned back towards his attacker while simultaneously drawing his alien dagger.

Only then the Predator stopped dead in its tracks and looked curiously at the dagger. It apparently realised from what the object was made and clicked its mandibles intrigued.

Akai frowned and saw only now the scars on the creature's thick skin. Scars that could have only come to be through the claws of the black aliens.

Bravely he stepped forward and said firmly: "Hey, you Crabface!" Large amber eyes tore away from the dagger and stared into his green ones. The agent held the dagger in front of him and said: "You can understand me, right? You know what these things are. You know them."

The Predator growled impatiently. "Listen to me" Shuu said again, "I have fought against these… snakes as well, see?" He hitched his prison uniform up to reveal a badly healed wound on his abdomen that looked like a scar on the Predator's chest. The creature growled again, louder this time.

The agent grinned. The Predator did understand him. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" Akai said and stepped closer to the larger hunter, "We have both been caught here. Let's get out of here together."

He had absolutely no idea whether the creature understood what he had said, but he stared in astonishment and relieve when it said: "Enemy of my enemy… friend."

The voice of the creature was raw and deep, but Akai understood.

"Exactly."

The Predator clicked again and turned away from Akai, looking for an exit.

"Hey Prince" Akai called and the hunter turned back. "The way is out here, but I've lost the key."

The Predator – newly christened 'Prince' because of the crown-shaped scar – growled and went towards the elevator. Long nails ran over the control panel before long serrated blades shot out of his vambraces. With incredible strength he slammed them deep into the panel and shot-circuited it.

The lift opened up, opening the way to outside.

"Wow. Brute force does indeed it" Akai muttered.

The hunter stopped, purred and said: "Out here."

Akai nodded, picked up his weapons and got into the lift. Apparently he had found a new friend.

-o0o-

The ride in the lift was… awkward to say the least. It had been designed for a single scientist at best, not for an eight foot tall and five hundred pound heavy Predator. And they didn't even think about the FBI agent.

Akai felt like sardines in a tin. Except there were no cold dead fish, but a very live and angry alien hunter. Shuu tried to keep away as much as possible from his 'new partner', because he didn't like close physical contact. Prince showed him clearly by growling intimidating.

But eventually the lift doors opened and both were free again. The Predator immediately started looking for an exit, because the door was locked.

In the middle of the room lay a dead scientist, killed by an alien without doubt. Prince growled upon seeing that.

Ignoring the threatening snarling, Shuu picked up his radio: "Okay, I'm here. What now?"

"There's a disk on the cupboard. Take it."

"There it is" Akai said and pocketed the disk, "What's this?"

"Important data" the voice replied cryptically, "Something that helps you as it does me."

"Okay. Now we have to get out."

"…Do you trust the Predator?" the voice asked.

Akai frowned when he watched the Predator trying to smash the bullet-proof window with a computer – without avail. "Well… I have seen to what his people are able. And since he hasn't tried yet to skin and disembowel me like game… I think I can give him a chance."

Then they heard voices.

"It's just a bug, and it came this way."

"Yeah, let's check in here."

Akai paled. At least two Weyland-guards were coming their way, both heavily armed. And what would they see? An armed escapee, a dead scientist and a five-hundred pound heavy Predator! Super!

Prince, however, understood the situation and jumped with a single, powerful leap into the open ceiling lining. At least that solved the problem with the Predator.

Unfortunately Akai was not as lucky. Because as soon as the Predator was gone the door opened and two men strolled in.

They discovered Akai and the body and counted one and one together. "Don't move!" they shouted at him.

Akai raised his hands and called: "Don't shoot. I'm no threat!"

"Don't even twitch a muscle, understood?!"

But then there was a loud 'thud' behind them, and before they could turn around serrated blades had dug through the first one like a hot knife through butter. The man couldn't even scream when Prince killed him violently.

The second soldier looked in utter terror how his mate was turned into a bloody pile on the floor. He tore up his weapon but Prince roared at him and paralysed him with fear long enough to kill him, too. The second soldier went gurgling down.

The Predator looked over to Akai, glaring in anger at him. But he did not attack the agent. Instead he snarled and turned away, now leaving the room.

Shuu gulped. Only slowly did it dawn to him into what he was getting himself.

He followed the huge hunter anyways. He was the strength to Shuu's intelligence, which was needed to get out again.

He'd only have to break him of his habit of killing people.


	10. Weapons

Akai Shuichi understood quickly that the Predator Prince was not seeing him as equal. He tolerated him, and that was it. And Akai couldn't prevent that the giant hunter violently killed those in his way.

Much to Akai's relief though, the hunter did not attack the cowering scientists. They were no 'worthy opponents' in his eyes.

"His race is considering honor at first place it seems" he said quietly to his other companion, the mysterious voice.

"But you are running into the wrong direction!" the voice complained, "The lifts are the other way!"

"If you want to tell our prince that, you're welcome to try. But I doubt he'll listen."

His radio groaned exasperated but shut up. Akai grinned self-assured and directed his attention back to the alien hunter. He did not miss that he was looking into each room.

"Are you looking for something?" the agent asked. Prince stopped, turned to him and tilted his head. He lifted his arm and pointed at the serrated blades before clicking.

"Weapons… you are looking for your weapons?" Prince purred, "I understand…" The agent thought for a moment while his Predator watched him curiously.

"I've got an idea" Akai said, "Come."

He passed the hunter by and ran down the hallway; Prince followed him on the heel. That had to count for something, right?

"He is following you" the radio said.

"Prince understands that I know this area better than he does… or he simply thinks me no threat for him..."

"What you aren't."

"…Can you do me a favour?"

"Which would be?"

"I'm looking for a computer terminal. Can you find out where his weapons are?"

"You… want to arm him?"

"I need the big guy" Akai muttered and stepped into a computer room, "And he needs his weapons."

"Alright" the voice sighed, "Wait a moment."

Soon Akai had a layout on his screen. "Hey Prince!" he called out, "Look" Shuu pointed at the layout plan of the Pod in which they were. Some colourful dots blinked on the screen. "We are here" the agent said, "And your stuff is here and here."

Prince purred pleased and pulled the corners of his mouth… uh… mandibles up, which looked like a grin. "Your stuff… weapons" he garbled and went back through the door. Akai followed the Predator again.

"But when you got your stuff we'll get out of here, yeah?"

Prince only howled at that.

"I'll take that as a yes."

-o0o-

Akai was both astonished and lightly unsettled at how easily the Predator was able to find his way in this maze, even though he had caught only a short glimpse on the map. He still found the lab containing his weapons easily enough.

Without even considering he stormed the lab roaring and drove the present scientists to huddle into a corner. Ignoring them from then on he went over to a stainless steel table on which several exotic looking objects lay.

Shuu felt bad for the poor scientists and went to them. "Please excuse my partner, but he hasn't learnt yet how to behave in public. Just stay calm and he won't do anything to you."

The scientists stared at him with huge, wet eyes before nodding quickly and saying nothing. Akai smiled reassuringly and went back to the massive Predator.

Prince held a four-foot long rifle-like weapon, racked the slide, purred satisfied and hung it onto his left leg. A spear followed, which could be folded to the size of a large flash light. Prince put it onto his right leg. Then he also picked up an object Akai couldn't recognise. It was a small handle with wing-like protrusions on both sides and a small disk in the middle. The Predator also collected a few more of these disks. Afterwards he turned his attention to a small canon, which he attached to his left shoulder armor via a few cables and connected it to his left vambrace. Shuu knew he had some sort of small computer in that one, while he had these long serrated blades on his right.

Prince took another look around, but found nothing interesting and left the room. Akai followed the powerful and again armed hunter.

But when they continued through the hallways, Akai wondered about one thing: "Where are all the soldiers? You can't have possibly killed them all yet."

Only a few seconds later he got his answer.

Sirens sprang blaring into life, their shrill screams echoing through all hallways. Prince stopped and looked around in alarm, his mandibles clicking anxiously.

"All employees abandon Pod immediately" an electronic voice said, "I repeat, abandon Pod immediately."

"What is happening?" Akai called out, whirling around.

"…Xenomorphs seem to have invaded the Pod – or maybe they broke out from their cages" the mysterious voice said, "They lock the Pod down to regain control."

"At least they won't blow it up this time."

"Don't be too sure", the voice warned him, "I need to find another exit for you; so finish what you need to do!"

"Alright" He turned back to the Predator: "We have to get out of here. Get your stuff!"

The hunter bellowed as answer and jumped into motion. Shuu had troubles keeping up. Prince was incredibly fast and agile for someone so big and heavy. He reminded Akai of a big lion.

Soon both of them reached a rather large room. Prince stopped abruptly there and Akai slammed into his broad back. Afterwards the agent sat groaning on the floor while the Predator had not even registered the collision.

Akai felt more than heard the deep rumbling going through his partner's chest. A growling; an extremely deep and doubtless angry one.

And then Akai saw the reason for this.

On an autopsy table lay another Predator. But this one was dead.

Prince went towards it without securing first, but there was no-one. The scientists had left a while ago. The hunter went to the table on which his dead fellow lay and looked down at him. Was that only his imagination or did Akai hear him whining sadly?

The agent came over, too, and asked: "One of your friends?"

It was then that Akai discovered the gaping hole in the dead Predator's chest, and he just knew what had happened to this one.

Prince too discovered the wound and started growling again. He jerked up his head and roared in wrath before slamming both his fists down onto the table, denting it in the process.

A quiet laughing attracted their attentions. There, behind a thick bullet-proof window and massive steel walls – in a small side room – stood General Vassili Rykov. Prince seemed to recognise him and spread his mandibles in anger, roaring again.

"It seems as if monsters can mourn" the old general said and crossed his arms behind his back. Prince bellowed again and jumped at him, startling the two Iron Bears the general had with him, but only managed to come to the wall. The mercenaries whipped up their machine guns at the Predator's attempt to break down the window. But it was thick and sturdy and became only slightly scratched.

"You want this, hunter, do you not?" Rykov asked and pulled something from behind his back. The Predator froze again and narrowed his amber eyes. Rykov held a mask in his hand! A highly developed mask/helmet combination of a silvery color with beautiful engravings. It was Prince's mask which the Ooman had taken from him a few weeks ago.

One of Rykov's men said: "We have to get away, general. The Pod will soon be locked down."

Rykov nodded, smirked mockingly towards the Predator and the FBI agent, and disappeared with his men through a door. Prince howled in anger, but even he could not break the window. He eventually stopped and glared snarling into the direction in which the Oomans had disappeared.

Akai watched him a while. Prince didn't even need to say anything; the FBI agent had understood.

Prince would hunt Rykov down. He would take revenge for his own capture, the death of his friends and the loss of his own honour; and he would kill Rykov.

The Predator broke away from the window and moved to the other end of the room. There were more Predator objects lined up on another stainless steel table. Prince picked one up and opened it, revealing some kind of first aid kit. Another object followed, which he put into his computer, pushed a button and… disappeared!  
Akai flinched and blinked. No, his hunter had not disappeared. He had become _invisible_! However, when he moved or when one looked hard, they could see his blurred silhouette. Prince purred satisfied and became visible again with blue lightning dancing around him. Then he looked to the last object: a mask.

This one was more copper-coloured than silvery and less decorated then his own, but it would serve him well. The Predator put it on and exchanged his expressive crab-face against a blank mask.

Now he was ready for the hunt.

And his chance would come sooner than either of them had anticipated. The two escapees just wanted to leave the room when an explosion rocked the very floor on which they stood. Both of them whirled around where a cloud of dust rose from the wall. Something incredible strong must've hit the wall from the other side and had torn apart a few vital gas pipes.

It came hissing through the newly-made hole; salvia dripped down from its slavering jaws. Akai paled involuntarily and Prince snarled enraged. The agent thought back to the dead Predator and finally saw the result of an alien hatching from said Predator.

But he'd rather not have known at all.


	11. Trust

**Author's Note**

Because of lack of attention I'll put this FF into the Aliens/Predator Category from now on. It's still an AVP/DC crossover, but apparently nobody likes DC crossovers.

* * *

The Predator-Alien took a thundering step towards them and rose to its full size. It stood at the very least ten feet tall! Akai gulped while his mouth dried up.

It had a better defined body than its black siblings and a more brownish skin. Its head was shorter and broader, with the typical Predator-Dreadlocks, plus the same crab mandibles. Otherwise it still had the familiar alien claws and the long bladed tail.

While Akai was unsettled about the appearance of this without doubt extremely strong creature, Prince was extremely angry. To him these creatures were a disgrace; an abomination that had to be wiped out and which were too detestable to take a trophy of.

Without faltering the Predator roared in anger. The canon on his shoulder whipped up and released a blue ball-lightning, but the Predalien ignored it and leapt with terrible bellowing at the Predator. Prince and the alien went down in a tangle of limbs, and the impact was strong enough to shatter the floor tiles beneath them.

Prince howled in anger and kicked the alien off him when it clawed a few ugly wounds into his stomach. But he did not even seem to notice them and jumped right back up, tackling the beast like a professional football player.

Akai was paralysed for a moment and stared at the spot where Prince had been a few moments ago. The cracks in the tiles were filled with a green liquid. The Predator had green blood. Not only green, but _fluorescent_ green blood!

The agent got hold of himself and took aim with his shot gun. He doubted his pistol would do any damage on that thing. Prince's blades seemed work good enough, though.

However, the Predalien was not only larger, but also stronger than his companion. Shuu realised this only when his Predator was thrown against the ground once again. The Predalien screamed out and jumped at the downed hunter; its second set of jaws shooting out of its slavering jaws. Prince could keep it at bay for the moment. Suddenly a shot echoed through the room and the Predalien screeched and swayed. Akai stuck to his guns and shot at the creature, driving it away from the Predator.

The Predalien did not allow this to continue for long. Enraged it leapt at the FBI agent. However in that moment Prince had unfurled the spear and drove it deep into the body of the creature with enough force that the tip of the weapon broke through the creature's rump and dug into the wall behind it. The beast screamed and its greenish-yellow blood spluttered around and dropped to the ground. Akai was forced to take cover to be not hit by the acidic blood of the creature.

The Predalien thrashed wildly and tried to kill its attackers. Despite its injuries it was still stronger than Prince, who got troubles holding the spear in place. Akai realised this and jumped behind the Predator while simultaneously grabbing hold of the weapon. It was then that Akai noticed the creature's tail flying towards them and could only draw in a sharp breath to warn his comrade. Prince released his hold on the spear with only one hand and grabbed the creature's tail with the other. The tail hit him with a force that could have broken every single bone in Akai's body, and its bladed tip cut deep into the hunter's flesh – but Prince was unrelenting.

Together they held the beast in place until its movements finally ceased to be. Only when they were absolutely sure it was dead did they finally release the spear. The carcass slumped limply onto the ground.

"Are you still alive?!" asked Shuu's radio anxiously.

"Yeah… I think I am" the agent answered, still shaken, "God… I hope I won't have to do that again too soon."

Prince turned around, facing Shuu and clicking. Akai wasn't really sure what the Predator wanted of him, but relaxed when he placed a hand onto his shoulder and purred.

A successful smile came to Akai's features. "It seems as if my Prince recognised me as an equal."

"Nice nice" the mysterious voice said, "But you have to get out of there. You have to reach the skywalk to the next Pod – which one doesn't matter."

"Good. Let's go, Prince."

-o0o-

The skywalk was quickly reached. But there was a tiny, virtually insignificant problem.

The people on the other side of the Pod had already shut and locked their door.

Which led to Akai and his Predator standing on top of the Skywalk – about 700 feet above solid ground.

The wind tore at the two escapees, and at least Akai had to crouch down to prevent being thrown off. Prince on the other hand stood unmoving like a statue. Only his dreadlocks flayed wildly in the storm.

"Okay!" Akai shouted into his radio, "We're on the skywalk. What now?"

"Head back across the skywalk" the mysterious voice told him, "There should be a catwalk that leads to a maintenance hatch. You can take it until you reach the cargo lift."

"Great!" Akai cursed and looked carefully down, "Climbing around 700 feet off the ground in a hurricane storm is not exactly my idea of a 'good time'!"

"Try not to look down."

Shuu sighed and signalled Prince that they would continue.

The way across the skywalk was unexpectedly long and difficult because of the stormy gusts up here, and once again Akai found himself awestruck by construction of the Pods. They hung from rather thin steel beams but swayed only gently in the storm – despite their massive size.

They reached the end of the skywalk, and Prince was the first to jump onto the catwalk. Despite his size and the narrowness of the catwalk he moved gracefully and without fear – two things Akai dearly wished for himself, too. He himself was almost glued to the wall of the Pod, chest and nose pressed against the skin of the building, arms and fingers spread to cover as much as he could and tried really hard not to look down. The APCs looked like children's toys from up here.

Shuichi Akai was not often afraid. Acrophobia least of all. But this time his whole body shook with fear; because climbing over a thin iron mesh without safety at night in a storm hundreds of feet in the air on an alien planet… that was truly scary.

A series of hollow noises reached his ears, and he needed a while to recognise them as laughter.

Glaring darkly at Prince he grunted: "I know you are laughing, bastard. But this is my first time!"  
Prince laughed at him for a while longer before they reached the described hatch. With a single jerk of his massive arm the Predator tore the hatch out of its bolting and Shuu climbed into the tunnel behind it. Prince followed.

"You have to go straight forward for about 60 feet" Shuu's mysterious comrade told him, "Then you'll reach a downward tunnel that leads directly to the cargo lift."

"At least something" Shuu muttered and started crawling. The tunnel was narrow, and the stench of grease hung heavily in the air. The agent hurried up.

When they had almost reached the downward tunnel, Akai looked down through an air vent and stopped dead in his tracks. Prince growled behind him, but he ignored the Predator. Below them was the sick bay of the Forward Observation Pods. And in the currently only occupied bed was finally a familiar face.

"Decker!" Akai hissed. The soldier flinched and looked around in confusion. "Decker!" Akai repeated louder.

"Who's there?" the man asked, still half-asleep.

"Up here, Decker! Look up!"

His buddy did as he was asked to and blinked into the darkness. But when he recognised Akai his eyes went as big as saucers and he shot up: "Frosty?! Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Why? Did you think I was with McCain?"

"No…" the injured soldier stammered, "They… told us that you were… well… dead."

Akai fell silent. Dead? Why? What did they… his eyes darkened and he growled: "Dunya" Prince grunted behind him and Akai replied: "I'll continue on. Be quiet."

"Frosty? Who's there? And why aren't you dead?"

"Who said I was?"

"Eisenberg and Rykov" Decker answered, "They told us that a convict – one of the forced labourers – escaped and killed you… but why are you here?"

"They lured me into a trap… it was Dunya… perhaps under the orders of Rykov or Eisenberg or both, perhaps also on her own, I don't know… Listen Decker. Are you by chance returning to the Verloc?"

"Yeah, I drop out. In an hour I'm on my way off this hell hole and back to the Verloc."

The Agent breathed out. "That's good… Hey! Don't shove back there!"

"Who's up there?"

"Ah, only my jailbreak buddy. But that's beside the point. I need you to do something for me."

"I haven't thanked you for getting us out of the POC yet, Frosty. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now. Shoot."

"I have a disk with crucial information. I need you to hold on to it for me, in case I don't make it. And you have to tell McCain or someone from our team that I'm still alive. But only them and nobody else. Rykov, Eisenberg or anyone else mustn't know under any circumstances!"

Decker got up despite some troubles because of his injuries. "All right, Frosty. You can count on me."

"Decker, I'm really happy that I met you" Akai said smiling and handed him the disk through the grate.

The soldier looked at the disk, nodded and repeated: "You can count on me."

"Thank you" Akai said. Turning back to Prince he said: "We can continue" Decker he told: "I've gotta go and rescue the others. They too are walking directly into a trap."

"I'd accompany you, but…"

"No. You keep my disk save and you will go back to the Verloc… we'll manage somehow" the agent told him and finally disappeared from his field of view.

"Good luck… wait, what did you mean with 'we'?" But he flinched notably when Prince appeared. At least that answered his question.

The Predator stared down at the small human and growled before saying: "…Good Luck" and disappeared, too.

Decker slumped back onto his bed and dragged a hand through his hair. "Damn… you really are a crazy dog."


End file.
